ABSTRACT
Guerrillas and paramilitaries—assisted at times by the government—confronted each other; other paramilitary groups, established by the drug dealers, fought the guerrillas and the government. Since the breakdown of the negotiations in Tlaxcala in 1992 the guerrillas have turned to urban terrorism in an explicit attempt to hold the urban population hostage, as the Medellin drug group had earlier done. Colombia's role in the international drug market developed very rapidly as a result of the major drug interdiction efforts launched by Mexico in 1975 at the urging of the US government. Before Belisario Betancur became president, Colombian leaders had paid little or no attention to the drug trade, but during 1983 and early 1984 the Betancur government, led by Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, stepped up attacks on the drug centers and dealers. In addition to the drug dealers, guerrillas, and death squads, ordinary law breakers took advantage of the breakdown.
